Roulette

by C. D. Bradley

  Olivia smiled. “That’s Grace. She was always the center of every room without even trying. I was more than happy to admire her from my quiet place in her shadow.”

  He looked her up and down. “You don’t look like a shadow now. You look as vibrant and beautiful as your sister. I believe I bought her those shoes and that purse. When I first met her.” He swallowed and tears filled his eyes. “God it’s been forever ago but I cherish every moment like it was yesterday.”

  “Ten years ago.” Olivia finished accusingly. “Did you know she was still in college then? She was just a girl.”

  “She was. But she already ruled the world. That first year she was still in college going back and forth to campus. She drove me mad. I hated not seeing her, not knowing what she was up to. Who she was with. Then that boy came here after her and I nearly lost my mind.” Anger flashed like wildfire in his dark eyes. “There have been other men who came and went over the years but that boy was so fucking determined to take her back home. He stormed in here all junior detective, ranting accusations.”

  “That was ten years ago?” Olivia sat up suddenly interested. “Maybe a college boyfriend sick with jealousy?” She didn’t believe for one minute that her sister had been hiding here all these years. She had seen her body with her own eyes. It had fucking haunted her for a decade. She knew every intimate detail by broken heart. But if this boy came here looking for her. Maybe he was involved with her death or at least knew something about it.

  “He was desperate. Stormed through the casino looking for her. You had to admire his passion misplaced as it was. But the green-eyed monster in me could not tolerate him for a minute. I threw him out and banned him from the casino for life.” His eyes flew open wide. ““Fuck. He was here.” He stood up and walked over to the phone on the wall like he was going to put out a fire. He jerked the phone off its cradle. “Get Mickey on the phone. Now,” he growled.

  “When was he here? Who? The boy?” Olivia asked puzzled.

  “He’s not a boy anymore,” Luca said darkly. “He was here maybe six months ago. Maybe a little more. When he tried to get in it triggered the lifetime ban and security alerted me.”

  Luca began to talk to someone on the phone. If she could get a name of the young suitor Olivia could track him down. That is if Luca didn’t get to him first. She suspected Luca had a very dark side. You don’t get a nickname like the Devil without some element of evil. She could see how her sister had been mad for him. He was broad and tall but not obese. Grace never could resist a bad boy but this was a very bad man. Olivia imagined her sister would have been as in love with him as he was with her. What had happened? Had he become so jealous he killed her with those massive hands? Or had her young lover desperate and crazy knowing he was losing her to this man taken drastic measures to keep her for himself, in death if not in life.

  “Thank you,” he said and hung up. “I’ve got it. Let’s see if you can recognize the fucker. Maybe you have seen him before.” He pulled up a screen on the wall with the push of a button and then used a control panel to pop the images onto the screen. At first Olivia sat speechless then she struggled to find air. She felt like she had been thrown into outer space. Airless and weightless her head began to spin. It couldn’t be. This was some kind of sick joke.

  “You are a sick bastard,” she spat. “This isn’t funny. I don’t know what kind of sick fucking game you are playing. Did you kill her and now what, you’re going to toy with me like a cat with a mouse?”

  “What the hell are you talking about? You don’t know anything about me. I love your sister and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.” His voice boomed through the room. “We need to talk to this guy.” He waved his hand toward the screen. There on the wall were two drivers licenses one from 2006 one from 2016 both belonged to Dominic Kain. Olivia slumped back into the chair. All the love she had felt in her life, all the hope she had finally begun to feel again hung in catastrophic destruction on the wall. Dominic was in love with her sister.

  “This has to be wrong. Please.” She tried to fight the tears but couldn’t fight them another fucking minute. Suddenly Olivia flashed back to the fight with her sister.

  THEY WERE IN Grace’s hotel room. Olivia had come to Vegas to bail Grace out of jail for suspected prostitution and possession of drug paraphernalia. Grace didn’t want their mother to know. Once they got back to the hotel. Olivia saw Grace working the roulette table and kissing Luca.

  “You are in way over your head,” Olivia yelled at her twin. “That man is twice your age and now you’re doing drugs. What the hell Grace? What has gotten into you?”

  “Oh go back to your preppy little school and stick your nose back in a fucking book,” Grace spat and poured herself an obscene amount of Grey Goose. She hardly bothered with the pretense of cran. “You don’t get to come down here to my life and fucking judge me.”

  “What about school?” Olivia shot back. “What about your dreams? You are going to get kicked out if you don’t get back on track.”

  Grace laughed wildly. “Shows how fucking attentive you are. I already did. They fucking kicked me out last month.”

  Olivia couldn’t believe her ears. “What? Why? What happened, Grace.” Olivia tried to reach out and put her hand on her twin’s shoulder but Grace pushed her away.

  “You are a fucking joke, Liv. What do you think I got kicked out for, drinking, drugs, you name it. You weren’t exactly a princess yourself last summer.”

  “That was summer break and no one got arrested. Besides we were drinking and waiting tables not doing drugs,” Olivia shot back

  “Speak for yourself, cupcake. I learned a great deal about the business last summer. I’m a lot fucking smarter than that school gives me credit for. Well, fuck them I have my own business and I’m doing just fine.” She sneered and waved her hands around the suite.

  “So dealing drugs and being some guys whore is your idea of—” Olivia felt the crack of Grace’s hand on her face before she could even finish her words. Hot tears stung her eyes and she stepped back.

  “You’ve always been jealous of me,” Grace yelled coming toward her. “Always. Every party every fucking boy. They were all about me not you. Hell you wouldn’t have even been invited if it wasn’t for me.”

  “You’re nothing but a selfish bitch.” Olivia stood her ground. “You lied to Mom. You lied to me. All you care about is your own fucking happiness. That’s all you’ve ever cared about.”

  Grace lunged at Olivia and began trying to choke her. Their arms being the same length Olivia reached up and grabbed Grace by the throat also. The two girls fought until Grace tripped over the edge of the glass coffee table and they fell into it sending glass shards everywhere.

  “Get out!” Grace screamed before Olivia could collect herself. “Get the fuck out of my life!”

  Olivia was stunned. Grace was bleeding, she had hit the table first. Grace pushed Olivia off onto the floor.

  “Grace, you’re hurt,” Olivia started.

  “I said get the fuck out.” Grace stood up, stumbled then made it to the door. Holding on for support she opened it for Olivia. “Go, Liv, and don’t come back.”

  Olivia made it to the elevator and then collapsed back against the wall. In a heap of tears she slid to the floor and waited for it to open. Her heart broke like a supernova, a great star shattering in one final titanic explosion sending millions of fragments out into space.

  “OLIVIA . . . OLIVIA . . .” Luca stood over her. He held a damp cloth to her forehead. “Come on, sweet girl.”

  Slowly Olivia got her bearings. What the hell? She looked around the room confused at first. Luca knelt beside her. He had laid her down on the couch. Gently he wiped her forehead with a cool cloth.

  “I was here,” she whispered.

  “When? Just rest.” He soothed and smoothed her hair.

  “Ten years ago. The day Grace died. I bailed her out of jail and we had a fight in her room and she threw me out. I was he
re.”

  “Olivia, Grace didn’t die that day. I promise you,” Luca insisted

  Olivia pulled away. Luca, we had her funeral. She was buried. She died.”

  “Where is she buried?” he asked shaking his head as if she had lost her mind.

  “She’s . . . I . . .” Olivia searched her consciousness for an answer. “I . . . don’t . . .” Why the hell couldn’t she think where the fuck her sister was buried. What the hell was going on? Olivia began to breathe hard. Not now. She didn’t have time for this now.

  “Olivia let’s call that doctor, shall we,” he offered, sympathy filling his eyes.

  “Wait no. I’m not lying. I have a sister. Her name was Grace. She died ten years ago.” Olivia started to rock back and forth.

  “My darling. It’s going to be okay.

  WHEN OLIVIA AWOKE she was in the softest four poster bed she had ever slept in. It was like a pile of pillows resting on a cloud. Piper, Luca and a man in a dress shirt and dark pants stood just outside the room talking in low voices. Through the open doorway Olivia could see the man was wearing a stethoscope around his neck. They had called a doctor. She wondered when Piper had arrived and how long she had been out.

  “Piper,” Olivia called out weakly and tried to sit up. Wow she was woozy. What the hell? Her head hurt like crazy. Piper rushed into the room.

  “Hey, Liv. Quite the day huh?” Piper sat in the chair beside the bed. “The doctor says you are going to be okay but they may need to admit you for a few days.”

  Olivia tried again to sit up. She swayed and back down she went. “Something’s wrong,” she protested.

  “Don’t worry. The doctor gave you a little sedative to help you calm down and rest. Just lay back, sweetheart. Everything is going to be okay.” Piper gently soothed and held her hand.

  “Is this the hospital? I don’t want to be admitted. I have to finish this case. Luca said that Grace—” Olivia blurted but Piper interrupted.

  “Shhhh . . . calm down . . . We are in Mr. Carlisle’s suite here at the hotel. He called Dr. Ferguson, to come check on you. You were hysterical downstairs and they had to give you some medication. He will come talk with you in a minute but he said with your history he would like to transfer you to the hospital until they can be sure you are stable.”

  “My history? What are you talking about?” Olivia wrestled with the sheets and forced herself to focus. “I have panic attacks but I’ve been dealing with those since Grace’s death.”

  “Sweetheart, I’m not trying to upset you.” Piper spoke as you would to a three-year-old on the verge of a tantrum. “They took such good care of you at Rawson before.”

  “Rawson? What is that?” Olivia questioned as she racked her memory for some clue to what Piper was talking about.

  “Darling, you spent some time there almost ten years ago. Don’t you remember any of it? I understand though that was a hard time for all of us. Everyone was so worried about you.” Piper squeezed her hand. “I will never forget the day they pulled you out of the water . . .” Piper’s voice broke.

  “Piper, you know I don’t swim. I wouldn’t go anywhere near the water,” Olivia protested. As she spoke the sensation of being weightless in the depths of Lake Mead enveloped her. Lost in the darkness with only shreds of moonlight escaping through the clouds, she was screaming for help but none came. “Damn it! I am a lawyer. Why can’t I make sense of these dreams or memories, or whatever the hell they are.”

  “Ok . . . No need to get upset . . .” Piper tried again.

  “I could not possibly be more upset.” Olivia reached out and grabbed Piper’s arm to steady herself. Piper backed up as if Olivia was trying to hurt her. Olivia continued, “Someone’s potentially framing me for murder, my dead sister may not be dead, and my boyfriend was madly in love with my twin fucking sister before she died . . . or didn’t die. Fuck! I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on and you all think I’m fucking crazy!”

  Luca and Dr. Ferguson rushed into the room. Luca pried Piper from her grip and held her hand. Dr. Ferguson reached in his bag and pulled out another vial. “No!” she yelled and tried to get away. “Please don’t give me anymore medication. I need to have a clear head. Please! I’ll calm down I promise.” Olivia tried to wriggle out of Luca’s monstrous grip. The doctor stuck a syringe in the vial and pulled up the medication.

  “Please . . . Piper . . . Luca . . . Don’t do this. Please!” Olivia begged. Piper looked away and started to cry.

  “I can’t bear to see her like this again.” Piper sniffled and walked toward the door.

  “Piper! Wait!” Olivia started to hyperventilate. Not now. She had to stay in control. She felt the room getting smaller. “Luca.” She turned and met his eyes. “Please Luca. Don’t put me in the hospital. Tell him I don’t need any more medicine. Could someone call Detective Shaver or the Norfolk, Virginia District Attorney’s office.”

  Luca’s face was pinched into a sad grimace as he held her in a firm but tender grip. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, darling. Everything is going to be all right now. Dr. Ferguson is just trying to help you get some sleep. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Olivia’s mouth went dry and her heart felt like it was beating all over the place making the room spin. Her feet and fingertips began to tingle. Her breaths came in short labored gasps. Dr. Ferguson wiped her skin with a cool alcohol pad. The sting of the needle was followed by a burning sensation that started in her arm and became a warming that spread throughout her body like plunging into a pool of warm bourbon. Her body and breathing relaxed. Olivia knew all this was wrong. She knew she had to get . . . out . . . of . . .

  THE ROOM WAS dark when she came to. She looked around cautiously. She was still in the room with the four-poster bed. She didn’t know what was going on but she knew she had to get out of here. She was not about to get locked in some mental hospital. She needed to get out of this hotel and get a hold of her boss and Detective Shaver. They would be able to help her figure out what the hell was going on. She knew that she was going to be in some serious shit for leaving town but she would take that over this any day of the week. Olivia quietly sat up. Her head swam and she held onto one of the bed posts. Each movement felt like she was walking on the deck of a boat in rough seas.

  She was thankful that they hadn’t already transferred her to the hospital. Now she just had to figure a way out before they came back. She stood holding firm to the post. Each move she made, Olivia paused and listened for the phone to ring as it had earlier when Luca was watching her. So far so good. She arranged the pillows in her bed to look like her form and covered them with the blanket. Her shoes were sitting beside the dresser on floor. She slid along the wall for support, grabbed her shoes and moved to the door of her room. She could hear the TV in the next room. Olivia moved silently to where she could see the living area. Piper was asleep on the couch with a chenille throw over her legs. A half empty bottle of wine and an empty room service container sat on the coffee table. The single Waterford glass was still a quarter full. She prayed Piper had drank enough to be in a deep sleep. Olivia moved one step at a time through the dim living room. She could see the door just fifteen feet away. She held onto furniture and the walls to keep from falling. When she was about three feet from the door she stumbled over a small statue of a Yorkshire terrier. She flew forward and grabbed onto the doorframe. Her heart pounded so loud she could barely hear Piper snort and then return to mouth breathing. Olivia stayed perfectly still for several tense moments listening. Piper’s breathing evened out and Olivia grabbed the handle of the door, unlocked the deadbolt and prayed as she turned the handle. She eased the door open in a slow steady motion that allowed a stream of light from the hallway to filter into the dark space. She stopped just short of the light reaching the sleeping figure of her friend. Piper never moved. Carefully Olivia looked out into the hall. Other than a discarded room service cart the hall was empty.

  She slipped into the
hall and eased the door closed behind her. She knew she wouldn’t have much time before she was discovered. Still using the wall for support she moved in the direction of the elevators. She contemplated the stairs but decided she wasn’t steady enough and she had no idea how many floors up she was. She pressed the button for the elevator. The knot in her stomach grew with each floor the car climbed. What if Luca or Dr. Ferguson were in the car? There was nowhere to run. Closer and closer it climbed. She reconsidered the stairs. The hand holding the wall was sweating and made it difficult to hold on. She could not let herself start hyperventilating. She heard the ding and the doors started to open. Please, God, let it be empty.

  “Olivia?” The familiar low voice escaped the elevator like an arctic breeze that chilled her to the bone. It took her a moment in her foggy state to realize who it was.

  The doors opened fully and there stood Dominic Kain. “Olivia, what the hell is going on? What’s wrong with you?” He started to step out but Olivia lunged into the elevator and fell into his arms.

  “We have to get out of here. Hurry please,” she begged as she held onto him for dear life.

  He didn’t question, he just pressed the button for the first floor and the door close button with the fervor of a telegraph operator. Once the car began to move he did his best to stand Olivia up on her Jell-O legs. “What happened to you? Are you on drugs? Why the hell did you come out here?” He threw questions out as fast as they descended floors in the high-speed elevator.